There is little to distinguish the 1970s three-storey property that stands on a corner of Pump Hill, in the Essex commuter village of Great Baddow.
The metal shutters that, until recently, covered the entrance and garage, have been removed and the fake daffodils and stone hedgehog that once stood by the door have gone.
A few weeks ago house clearers arrived, emptying both home and garden. Yet, net curtains still hang limply at the windows where a small silver star – an overlooked Christmas decoration maybe – remains stuck to an upstairs pane of glass.
It’s the only enduring reminder of the family – and the horror – that once filled this home.
Two of the most recent occupants are dead and the third, Virginia McCullough, is currently residing within the confines of HMP Downview, in Surrey.
The crimes the bleached blonde, 37-year-old aspiring artist hid here – in her childhood home – are appalling and terrifying in equal measure, not simply because of what she did, but because they stand as ultimate proof that you really do never know what goes on behind closed doors.
The truth about just what did go on here was revealed in September 2023, when the bodies of McCullough’s parents, John and Lois, were found inside the property.
They had been murdered and entombed – Lois, 71, in an upstairs wardrobe, sealed with tape and barricaded with breeze blocks; and John, 70, in a makeshift mausoleum made from more blocks (Virginia bought 40 of them, along with sand and cement, at B&Q), in the downstairs study.
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Virginia McCullough, an aspiring artist who murdered her parents and hid their bodies for four years, is seen here in her police mugshot
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McCullough killed her parents John, 74, (right) and Lois, 75, (left) at their home in Chelmsford, Essex, between June 17 and June 20, 2019
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